Letters to the Editor, Dec. 31

Kenneth C. Hanks Sr., a labor worker for the Department of Public Works, picks up a dirty needle and disposes of it, at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, California on Friday, November 20, 2015.

Kenneth C. Hanks Sr., a labor worker for the Department of Public...

Well, Debra J. Saunders has done it again comparing apples and oranges as equals in “Bill Clinton wrote the book for Trump” (Dec. 29). Yes, former President Bill Clinton had (consensual) sex with that woman and probably others. But comparing personal sexual affairs in 1998 with current-day intentional, blatant, public denigration and maligning of women (and many other groups) is a poor comparison. Sexual indiscretion and sexism are not the same. Saunders also has a one-sided rewrite of history: Bill Clinton dragged this country through months of discord ... when I recall the equally culpable former independent counsel Kenneth Starr and the Senate doing the digging and dragging. I could easily compare Donald Trump to early Hitler: demagogic (appealing to the irrational), xenophobic verbal attacks on minority groups based on stereotypes and blatant falsehoods clearly contradicted by facts, and then acting as if it were all true. That includes hatred of others in the name of making the country great again, personal attacks on anyone who opposes him, plans to ban or limit groups based on religion, and then having crowds of people cheering for his strident, tell-it-like-is attitude. But that would be an unfair comparison, wouldn’t it?

Debra J. Saunders gave us a particularly logic-challenged taste of how Donald Trump (or any of the Republicans) are going to drag the Monica Lewinsky scandal into the presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton. It makes no sense, but it doesn’t have to, because logic is beside the point. The point is to bring up oral sex in a tone of high dudgeon, connect it to a Clinton, and completely ignore the long list of hypocrites whom Republicans prosecuted for the impeachment. The best line was “Bill Clinton turned ‘Lewinsky’ into a verb.” He did? If he did, I doubt it is the same verb that former Speakers of the House Dennis Hastert and Newt Gingrich, former Rep. Bob Livingston and more turned it into. If I got to define it, my definition would be “waste of government time and money for political gain that fails.” Oh wait. We already have Benghazi for that.

Roxanne Bales, Belmont

Christian tolerance

“Against the war” (Letters, Dec. 30) got me thinking about religious persecution in the destabilized Middle East, which doesn’t seem to be as much of an anti-Christian phenomenon as it is one having to do with the fractious factions of Islam itself. In fact, there seems to be surprising level of tolerance for Christians in these troubled areas. I may be wrong, since I base this perception on what I learn through the media.

Robert Hettel, El Granada

Back to grass fields

What has happened to the battle against artificial turf, a proven carcinogen whose petrol beads become woven into children’s hair when they play, a leukemia-inducing substance that is 50 percent carbon black, a known human carcinogen? Where are the parents with children acting as goalies in soccer, who have the most exposure to this? They deserve an advocate for their health and future. They deserve the right to play without being exposed to high levels of lead and other toxic substances leaching from artificial turf. The EPA has withdrawn its support for these fields, but they continue to be used. Children also complain of injuries on artificial turf and deep skin scrapes that would not be sustained on natural grass. The Women’s World Cup in soccer this year in Canada was held on artificial turf, in spite of the complaints of women who voiced outrage at the discrimination and their concern at sustaining injuries — the men played on natural grass! We fought against having artificial turf in Golden Gate Park, at Beach Chalet and on children’s playgrounds. Did the issue just go away? Where can children play now that is safe?

Karen Melander-Magoon,

San Francisco

Emission crisis

The latest Conference of the Parties trying to solve our fragile planet’s climate change challenges just ended. So many of us cling to the hope that maybe the collective hearts and minds of scientists and politicians will at last find real remedies to the world’s emissions crisis. These emissions come from so many sources, including bombs from our planes, drones or those of any adversary, which all emit the same toxic pollutants. Our fragile planet has reached — actually, far exceeded — its saturation point of carbon-laden pollutants.

As our world leaders, including our president, express their deep-felt commitment to remedying climate change, they completely forget that at the same moment, bombs are being dropped in so many parts of our fragile planet. Even with the expressed intentions of fighting “on the right side” of whichever battle is being waged, the bombs are still falling. Every year, our family sends greeting cards, sharing our hopes for peace and goodwill to our friends and loved ones. For years and years our holiday card always has had the image of a white peace dove. The dove is such a perfect image of peace and beauty. Isn’t it time to trade all those bombs for doves? It’s not just a matter of saving lives, but is also a crucial part of helping to save our planet. Indeed, this is the time. The clock is nervously ticking.